As I cried out, the servant rushed forward and plunged both of his red swords into Amon—one in his stomach, the other in his chest. Amon staggered back.
At the exact same moment the golden falcon burst into a billion fragments of light. The glowing particles of the bird were sucked into its body through its eyes and then were gone. Amon slumped to the ground, the gleaming red swords protruding from his torso.
The shabti cried out in triumph as I cried out in horror. He turned to me then, the sickening leer pasted on his face. But he didn’t see what I did going on just behind him.
Rising from the floor as if an invisible hand had lifted him, Amon yanked out the offending swords and tossed them aside. He opened his eyes, and in the dark cavern it looked like his hazel orbs were lit with a golden fire. As Amon took a deep breath, his body transformed. Where he had once stood, a large falcon now danced in the red sand. The giant golden creature flapped its wings and let out a screech that sent goose bumps shooting up and down my limbs.
The falcon was the most beautiful and the most deadly-looking creature I’d ever seen. I was mesmerized by it. Rising higher and higher into the air, it circled, keeping an eye on the shabti and me, and then, before I could understand what it was doing, it folded its wings and plummeted toward us.
The shabti shrieked and turned to run, but the falcon was upon him. Wings spread at the last second, its sharp golden talons grabbed the man, squeezing his torso mercilessly as the bird descended to the ground. Its beak snapped, ready to dismember the servant in an instant, but just before it could finish him off, the man screamed and disappeared with a puff of red smoke.
As I cowered in a corner of the catacomb, feeling nauseated, weak, and dizzy, the supersized falcon called out softly as it folded its wings and looked at me. I couldn’t help but cry out and move back several paces, though I knew instinctively it meant no harm.
The bird lifted its head, and then its entire body burst into a golden light that coalesced, re-forming into the Egyptian prince I knew so well. Though his body was once again lighting the space, darkness crept in around the edges of my vision. I fell to my hands and knees, stirring up the red powder, which rose in soft puffs around my face. It tasted like a low-burning fire, but it didn’t have a scent.
I managed to push myself upright and lifted my hands to examine them. They were coated up to the wrists in red dust. Though the back of my throat burned, I didn’t have the energy to cough.
“Amon?” I whispered. “I don’t feel so…” I pitched forward just as Amon caught me in his arms.
I could feel nothing.
I could hear nothing.
And a moment later, I could see nothing.
Images flickered at the edges of my consciousness, and though I tried to grasp them, they faded away before I could figure out what they meant. My body was floating between dream and reality. Gradually, I woke to the sound of voices. The fuzzy images took on focus and the bluish-whitish thing in my vision became an up-close-and-personal view of Amon’s shirt.
It was dark. I was lying on a bed or a table of some kind, and as I gradually became more aware of my surroundings, I realized I was staring at canvas. It was the middle of the night, and I was in a tent.
To my horror, I found that I couldn’t lift my limbs. I was paralyzed. It was like being buried alive. I started to panic, fear licking my mind and holding on with razor-like claws.